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Sunday, September 30, 2007

Taking A Vacation Away From Work

If you own your business or if you are self employed you probably feel you should not take a vacation. You likely think only bad things will happen if you take time away from your business. However there are many benefits that can make you comfortable while taking some time away from your business.

Growing and maintaining a business takes a lot of hard work. After awhile this hard work can take its toll on you physically. Taking a break from work can give your body time to recuperate and keep you healthy.

In addition to the physical toll, the busy and hectic activities of running a business each day can also take an emotional toll. Your peace of mind will suffer if you do not get away every once in awhile and as a result, your well being will most certainly suffer. So it is important to take a break and relax your mind.

When you bury yourself in work you probably do not have a lot of time to spend with family and friends. When you take a break from work you will be able to catch up with those around you. There is nothing better for relaxation than spending quality time with family and friends.

If you do not have a budget you can still take a vacation from your business without traveling. You can take a vacation at your own home, provided you do not work out of your home. IF you do you can still take a vacation at home as long as you can stay out of your office. You can do many things within your budget to take a break from work such as doing a hobby or taking a day trip to the beach.

Many small business owners feel they do not deserve any time off. Often you feel you d not have enough time in the day to finish everything you need to get done. You will always feel this way and taking a little time off is better than working all the time. You will feel better and be healthier as well.

Once you are ready to take a vacation from your business you should carefully plan it ahead of time to get the most from your vacation time. Place your vacation on the calendar and prepare for it carefully. You can project potential snags by doing this kind of advanced planning. In addition you will not lose any time when it comes to starting your time off. This extra time also allows you to prepare your business to operate while you are away.

If you panic at the idea of leaving your business for too long then start out small so you can experience the benefits. At first you can just start with coffee breaks then expand to weekends and longer. Or you can choose to take a few days off at the end of a business trip.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Advantages Of Internet Marketing

With the use of the internet continuing to grow and security for online shopping improves exponentially, more people are willing to spend money for online shopping. However, even those who do not shop online are using the internet as a resource for finding what they want. They can spend time in the comfort of their own home learning all the details about a specific item and then go into a store that sells that item armed with the information to make a purchase.

Many online companies are failing to use all the available internet marketing resources to their benefit and even companies that do not sell online should be paying attention to online marketing to offer information to customers that may not visit their traditional brick and mortar outlet. For example, a person wanting to buy a new car can research the different brands and models to determine which one is right for them.

In a few hours sitting behind their desk they can learn more about the different models than they can learn in days traveling from lot to lot dealing with a pushy sales staff and once they make their decision they can go the dealer and make their best deal on the make and model they want. This scenario can work itself out in virtually every item and service for sale on the internet and by providing your walk in customers with all the information they need, you can be reasonably sure they will know what they are getting when they pay you a visit.

Once they are in the door, excellent customer service and suggestive selling of related items can keep them coming back as a loyal customer. For those doing business online, internet marketing is the key to their success. It is not a baseball field in Iowa and if you build it, they may not come, mainly because they do not know you exist. Internet marketing is essentially getting your name out in the internet publics view to enable them to make a choice about where to spend their money. Unlike Hollywood however, it is not enough to say it does not matter what they say about you as long as the name is spelled right.

Your reputation is at stake every time someone visits your site. Its look, appeal and ease of use will either invite positive comments or condemn you to the list of might have beens or never were. By building a user friendly website, offering quality products at a reasonable price will keep their interest. However, without a good online marketing plan, there is a good chance they will not stumble on your site by accident. A good plan will get your name out in the publics eye. What happens after that is up to you.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Advertising And Marketing Your Business

Whether you choose to take care of your own advertising and marketing or hire someone to do it depends on several factors including your budget, time and experience. If you are a new business owner or manager, it is probably a good idea to obtain assistance from someone who is experienced in the marketing field and knows exactly where to direct the advertising for your company. Of course, if you have a larger company, you may have a marketing department that does nothing else but take care of marketing and advertising needs.

If you choose to hire people to take care of the marketing for your business, you need to be sure to hire people that are not only experienced in marketing but in marketing the types of products and services that your company sells. If you choose to hire someone who has never done marketing for the products your company sells, it should at least be someone who is familiar with your product line. In other words, do not hire someone whose previous experience was in mens clothing and you sell auto parts and the applicant does not know a transmission from a carburetor.

If you are busy setting up your business or even simply busy running it, hiring someone to take care of the marketing end is advantageous. After all, if you do not have time to devote to marketing your business, then you can not ensure that you are going to be able to reach the target audience in order for your efforts to do the most good. Marketing in itself can be a full time job and you must be able to take the time to conduct searches in order to know where to target your efforts. Unless you are only working with customers, you need to change your tactics so that you are not always directing your marketing campaign toward the same group of people.

If you do indeed choose to do the marketing yourself, make sure that you gain enough knowledge to do it effectively and know exactly the target audience for your product or service. You can not expect to accomplish that if you do not have enough time to devote to it, so make sure that you are free enough of your schedule to devote some time to your marketing plan and then following through with it. Its important to develop an ongoing marketing plan not just a one time advertising plan. Advertising and marketing are ongoing and they will not be effective unless you continue to develop new strategy and formulate a plan for different sectors of your target audience. A marketing plan that does not do that is ineffective and will soon be void of any new leads. You want to avoid that at all costs.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Hiring Qualified Employees

While you may have many positions available that need to be filled, hiring unqualified candidates can have serious effects in the workplace that can end up costing the company a lot of money. Because new employees need to be trained, need office equipment, salary and benefits, a lot is invested on the success of the employee. When they perform poorly, retraining or letting them go are usually the only options that companies have. Either way, the cost is much more than hiring a top performing employee.

Even though the job market is slow right now, it pays to hire only the best in the business so your company can thrive. Bad employees not only perform poorly, they may also cause other employees to leave the company. Employees who can not perform their job tasks make it difficult for other employees to complete their tasks. As a result, top performers may leave the company in search of better working conditions. This can also cost the company a lot of money.

If you hire an employee for a customer service position, they need to be able to communicate effectively with customers, vendors, clients and others who are important for your business. If the employee can not communicate effectively with others, they fail to create working relationships or bring in new business, your business may not be as profitable as it could be. Make sure that employees who will be working with the public are able to meet deadlines, work well with others and have an understanding that they need to present themselves in a professional manner at all times.

Preventing the hiring of bad employees can be difficult if you are not looking for warning signs. This can include failure to answer all questions during an interview or on an application, showing up late for the appointment, or not meeting all the requirements needed to perform the job. While you can still hire those who lack formal training but who are able to learn quickly or have other skills that will be useful, it is important to set a minimum number of goals so you can find candidates that have the ability to learn how to complete job tasks.

While you will still occasionally hire bad employees, if you create criteria when hiring, you will be able to reduce this number. Bad employees can have a negative effect on a companys reputation as well, which could deter top performers from applying for positions offered. By reducing the number of bad employees, you will improve the overall feeling at the workplace which will increase productivity. Keep in mind that while an employee may have many skills, they may not have the ones needed to perform their current job. Moving them to another department may help them become more successful.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Internet Marketing Strategies

In todays modern world of eCommerce and other online methods of both selling and business development. If you work internet marketing to your advantage, you have the potential to draw a substantial amount of traffic to your website and thus generate more sales for your products or services. If you are one of those people who are unsure about the power of internet marketing, then you should take some time to research and see exactly what happens when you work the program to your advantage.

Aside from drawing traffic to your site, internet marketing also provides the tools that you need to get your site listed with the search engines. Its essential that your site is include seo to allow it to receive the highest rankings from the major search engines, especially Google. Bearing in mind the reasons one would use internet marketing, the top five reasons for paying more attention to this type of advertising include the followings.

It can draw more traffic to your websiteIt has the ability to increase your websites ranking with the search engines.You can use it to zoom in on your target audience.Internet marketing can reach more people than any other advertising tool.It can open the door to international sales for your business.

Internet marketing allows the average businessperson to tap into the world of international trade without the huge expense of using newspapers and other types of periodicals to do so. While in the past, advertising was confused largely to local areas, the introduction of internet marketing has opened an entire new world for those involved in eCommerce and it continues to expand at an increasingly phenomenal rate. Whether your business is products or services, using internet marketing instead of direct advertising will make a huge difference in your profits.

When you look at the potential sales that internet marketing can create, it makes the classified advertisement seem technologically obsolete. For instance, even if you utilize online classified advertisements, how many people are really going to read that advertisement if you do not do some additional work in order to point web surfers in the direction of your ad? Thats the key to internet marketing, exposing your website to as many people as possible and doing that means making it highly visible.

That means you want to market your site so that you increase the number of visitors, because by the law of averages, the more people who visit your website, the better your chances are that a percentage of those visitors will buy what you have to sell. Search engine optimization, one of the most important tools of internet marketing, assures that your site will come up within the first few pages of a search, thus increasing the number of people who will go to your site rather than a competitors site for the same product or service.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Creating A Strategic Business Plan

A strategic business plan is a document that all businesses should have before or after they begin operating. Business plans outline all expenses, marketing campaigns, customer service provisions, expected income, emergency funds and any other items that are crucial for the success of the business. Since these goals can change from year to year, it is important to update your business plan to reflect these changes.

When writing a business plan, it is important to understand what you are trying to accomplish. This may seem easy but when you sit down to write the business plan, you will find that you may have numerous accomplishments in your first year. These can include turning a profit, building a brand, renting retail space and hiring employees. While these figures may change once you start your business, coming as close as possible to your goals will help you succeed. By writing down these goals, you will be able to prioritize and decide which goals are the most important.

Day to day operations when running a business can be many, so having a business plan in place before you open is a good idea. Because you can never anticipate everything that happens in your business, being as prepared as possible is also a good idea. In your plan, include an emergency fund buy enough business insurance to cover equipment, employees and other expenses and have enough money to pay for all equipment and supplies without having to borrow too much on credit.

For many people, the dream of business ownership is only possible with the help from a bank. But before a lender will agree to give you a loan, they need to see a solid business plan that outlines all costs and estimates. If you do not have a business plan, chances are you will not receive a loan. Be prepared to answer a lot of questions concerning your new business and why you need a loan. Traditionally, banks do not favor giving business loans to those who are high risk.

If you cannot write a business plan, you can hire a professional writing service that can do it for you. They will take all the information you have available and create a plan that is clear and easy to follow. Once you have a solid business plan, updating it each year is easy. All you need to do is define new goals, add any additional costs including rent increases and equipment costs, the amount of profit you would like to earn and any other information you may want to include.

You can refer to this plan whenever you want to see if your goals are being met and to see if changes need to be made. A business plan is a guide you should follow in order to become successful.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

How To Write A Business Plan

In writing a business plan, defining what a business plan is and what it contains is important. A business plan is a written collection of goals for the business along with the research and strategies to help achieve them. A business plan should include a business description, management, marketing and financials.

To begin writing a business plan, set concrete goals, responsibilities and deadlines to guide the business. These items should be in the business description. This should be simple and easy to understand. Enough information should be in the statement to peak the interest of the reader but not all the details of the plan.

The product or service information needs to follow the company description. This section should describe the product or service that is being promoted. A detailed description should include time elements of when the service will be completed or any circumstance in which the product could be used. Be sure and focus on the benefits to the customer.

A marketing analysis should be the next part of the plan. This is where the information shows how the product or service is needed. Customer needs should be explored including where the customers are and how to reach them. This component is usually the weakest part of a business plan. Care should be taken when writing this part of the plan.

Following the marketing section, should be the strategy and implementation ideas. Be very specific in the part of the plan. Management responsibilities with dates and a budget should be located in the section. Communication with management is very important and they should be able to use this part of the plan to keep them on a timeline with the product or service. The management team should be able to follow the schedule located here to track their progress.

The last section of the business plan is the financial section. Profit and loss, cash flow, the balance sheet, break even analysis, assumptions and business ratios should be included in this part of the plan. Use business charts to illustrate numbers so projections are easier to absorb. This section should be updated periodically to keep its facts and figures current. Now that the business plan has been discussed, a look at some of the common business plan mistakes is needed.

Do not wait too long to write a plan. Banks and investors will want to see a plan before taking a chance on a company. Do not over estimate the importance of an idea. A great idea does not start a business. Time, money, perseverance and common sense do that. Do not be afraid or dread making the business plan. Good books, business schools and software can help with this. A good, readable plan should be less than fifty pages.

A business plan is a road map for the business. It is often used to obtain necessary funding. It also is not set in stone but should change and evolve as the business does. Remember to match the contents of the plan with the purpose of the business.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Building A Strong Business Blog

A business blog is a great way to reach more customers and communicate with them on a more personal level. One of the biggest disadvantages of online businesses is that you do not have as much contact with the customer as you would if you ran a traditional storefront business. This means fewer chances to offer customers personal assistance. One way around is to create a business blog that is informative, entertaining and speaks to those who would be interested in purchasing the products from your website.

Business blogs are different from other types of blogs. When people think of blogs, they still think of personal diaries or writings about personal experiences that having nothing to do with their own lives. But in recent years, many businesses have seen the popularity of blogs and have taken them to the next level by introducing informative blogs that appeal to specific groups of people.

These blogs are read by thousands of potential customers each day. If you want to create a business blog, you should consider your audience. What are they looking for? Will they find your products interesting? Why will they continue reading your blog? Your blog should be able to reflect the industry you work in, aspects of the business or about products featured on your website. While it is fine to use humor in your blogs, you should try to be as informative as possible.

If you are new to blogging, you should research popular blogs that are similar to what you want to create. Most blogs are short posts between one hundred to three hundred words. Some blogs are longer. It is up to you how long you want your blogs to be. The best way to attract a constant stream of readers is to post frequently. This means at least once a week. Plan your blog a few days in advance to make sure it is well written and edited. Business blogs do not contain grammar or spelling errors and always have a logical order.

Make sure you include your website address on each post and archive them so readers can read previous posts. This will increase your popularity. You can also include keywords to help your blog expand its readership. Make sure keywords are added naturally and add them to the title of your posts whenever possible. Another way to increase your readership is to write a few articles promoting the blog. Submit to free article databases so your article is reposted on websites and in directories where readers will be able to find it.

A business blog can be a lot of fun to write. Readers can leave comments which increase the personal attention you can give to your customers.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Finding Home Business Insurance

Insurance is one of the most important business expense that any business whether small, medium or mega corporation needs. Depending on the type of business you are operating, it can include any number of different types of insurance needs. The most common business insurance includes building insurance, travel insurance, liability insurance, accident insurance, life insurance, short term disability insurance, automobile insurance, insurance on equipment and supplies, life insurance and health insurance.

For some businesses, there may also be a need for malpractice insurance. Even if a company does not provide any of the insurance to its employees because of its size, there is certainly a need for its owners or partners to carry insurance not only on the business but on themselves as well. Larger companies will more than likely have a variety of different choices for its employees and the size of the company along with the companys contribution will be the basis for the cost to an employee.

Finding insurance itself is not a major problem for anyone but finding insurance that meets the needs of your business at an affordable price can indeed be an issue. Insurance companies rate business insurance based upon the number of participants and the number of claims. For a company who has a high rate of claims for health insurance, for example, will pay a higher premium than one who has fewer claims. Of course, a company does not have to accept these terms and many times they do not.

Anyone who works for a company who provides health insurance can see how often they tend to change providers, sometimes annually. Other insurance rates do not appear to be so volatile and thus they tend to be with the same company for the long haul. However, it is not easy finding business insurance at reasonable rates and quite often it takes a great deal of planning and research to locate the best rates. For a business, finding good insurance is pertinent not only to employee morale but in current and future profitability of the business as well.

When it comes to business insurance, the best way is to find a multi line agent or broker who works with different insurance carriers. By doing that, your insurance broker is able to shop for the best rates for your company in terms of cost to benefits. Though searching individually may be a feasible possibility for the average person a business has different needs than an individual, thus it makes financial sense to allow someone with the expertise of an insurance broker or agent to search the market for rates that are within the budget of the company and meets its insurance needs. It also gives them the added benefit of having just one contact person for all of their insurance needs.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Building A Profitable Buisness Website

As you work on your home business and on making your business the best that it can be, the idea of having a website is probably something you have come to realize is very important. Even if the majority of your business is local, a website is still something that most people have come to rely on and if you do not have one you run the risk of falling behind others when it comes to your business and to your customers. This means that you have to take hold of your website needs and make sure that they are filled as easily as possible.

Websites

Websites are going to be the basis of your company, especially if most of your customers find you online. This means that you have to take charge and you have to make sure you have a good website. This probably means that you want to at least think about hiring someone to do your website. Hiring someone is going to take money and it is going to take time. However, if you want to have the best website possible and if you want to attract the most customers to your website, you have to have one that is spectacular. There are a lot of neat things that can be done with websites today and so you have to be sure that you are having a good one. If you do not have any website knowledge, you have to hire someone.

Things To Think About

As you hire someone to do your website, there are several things that you have to think about so that you know your website is going to meet your needs. First of all, you have to remember that while these people do this for a living, it is still your business. This means that you have to hire someone who is willing to take your ideas into consideration when designing your website and who is willing to help you create a website that is going to get you the most business.

You also have to remember that websites are not going to be permanent. As times change, you have to be able to change your website, whether it is to reflect a change in prices or items or anything else. This means that either your web site creator has to teach you how to update the site or there has to be something in the contract that says that they will update the site when you need it to be updated. Either one of these has to happen, because you have to be able to change your it as the need arises. A good working relationship is going to be very important when it comes to your web site.